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Thursday, February 9, 2017

The Lego Batman Movie SPOILERS Adoption Movie Review

Be warned… SPOILERS ALL THE WAY THROUGH THIS REVIEW

After thwarting another crime in Gotham City, Batman returns
to his lair. Although a hero and a celebrity, he lives a life of near solitude.
His only companion has been Alfred, his loyal butler and father-figure. Alfred confronts
Batman, saying that Batman’s greatest fear is being a part of a family; years ago,
before Bruce Wayne became Batman, he lost his parents. As an adult, his
self-imposed solitude has worked to protect him from emotional vulnerability
and loss. A sarcastic comment made Batman the unwitting adoptive parent of Dick
Grayson, an optimistic, energetic young orphan. Alfred suggests that taking responsibility
for Dick Grayson could be Batman’s first step towards conquering his fear of
relationship. Dick takes the superhero name of Robin. Together with the new
police commissioner, Batman and Robin face a new threat from the Joker, who
hopes to bring Gotham City under his control.

The Adoption
Connection

Bruce Wayne was orphaned as a young child, and since then has
been raised by the family butler, who continues to fill a parental role in Bruce’s
life, even now that Bruce is an adult – and a superhero. Meanwhile, hurt by the
loss of his parents, Bruce avoids family relationships, and denies even looking
at old family photographs. He refuses to acknowledge his sadness, instead
saying that his only emotion is rage.

Bruce has unintentionally adopted Dick; Dick is a wide-eyed
young orphan who asks a distracted Bruce a series of questions. Bruce continues
to answer in the spirit of “yeah, sure, whatever,” without paying attention to
what Dick is asking. That’s too bad, because Dick has been asking how to make
himself more appealing to prospective adoptive parents, and ultimately asks
whether Bruce will adopt him.

Dick comments that he has never had a family photo; he
proclaims a selfie of himself, Batman, Alfred and the police commissioner to be
his first family photo.

Alfred has been a consistent, caring adult to Bruce. He
challenges Bruce to face his fear of being a part of a family again. Even though
Bruce denies the desire to be in relationships, his need is obvious.

Dick is thrilled to be a part of a family.

Bruce eventually grows out of his aversion to being part of
a family, and eventually embraces Dick as his son.

Alfred wisely asks Bruce whether his emotional seclusion is
truly to protect others – or whether its only to protect himself. He asserts
that Bruce is “afraid of feeling the pain you feel when you lose someone close
to you.” That’s something that will relate to many people touched by adoption.
Eventually, a character asserts the positive message that, “sometimes, losing
people is part of life – but that doesn’t mean you stop letting them in.”

Challenges

The film presents adoption and orphans in some unhelpful and
uncomfortable ways. Bruce is referred to as “the greatest orphan of all time.”
Dick asks Bruce, “Do you have any advice on how to get adopted?” He goes on to
list several things he could do to become more likely to be adopted including
learning a foreign language and having “experimental surgery to make my eyes
larger and more vulnerable looking.” He also asks Bruce whether Bruce would be
more interested in adopting a “base model orphan” or one with “more upgraded
features.” Bruce doesn’t really listen to Dick’s questions and carelessly
answers each of his questions with a thoughtless affirmative. Although Bruce still isn’t listening, Dick
confides in him, “All I want is to get adopted so I can finally stop being
alone.” Bruce still isn’t paying attention when Dick asks whether Bruce is
looking to adopt, and his careless answer of “yup, yup, yup, yup” makes him
Dick’s unwitting adoptive parent.

Dick shows up at Bruce’s home, and apparently has lived
there for a few days before Bruce is even

aware that he is there. Upon learning
that he has adopted Dick, Bruce tells Alfred to “put that kid on the next jet
to the orphanage.” Alfred does not comply; Dick learns Bruce’s secret identity
and petitions to be included in some missions. Bruce allows him to come along only
when he realizes that Dick is small, nimble, and, in Bruce’s words, “100%
expendable.” On the mission, Bruce refuses to allow Dick to call him “dad,” and
is only proud of Dick when Dick satisfactorily obeys him. He even flatly denies
that Dick is his son at one point, and only acknowledges that Dick is his son
because another character suggests that it would be “weirder” if a grown man
was with a boy who was not his son. Even
though Bruce is later called to account for this callous attitude towards Dick,
and even though he eventually improves, it could be troubling for some viewers.
The unkind things Bruce says are there to highlight the self-centeredness and
reluctance to be in relationship that have come from his own loss, and they’re
often intended to draw laughs from the audience, but for kids who have been
orphaned, neglected, misused, and threatened with disrupted placements, the
jokes could be very painful. Most
teenagers could be able to deal with what Bruce says, but this film also seems
likely to appeal to young kids who might not be easily able to not take Bruce’s
unkind words personally.

In a way, Bruce’s approach to Dick is similar to Gru’s
negative approach to his future daughters in the first Despicable Me film – he intends
to use his adopted children to accomplish a dangerous task that he can’t
accomplish himself, and he does not have true intentions to be a parent. Negative
portrayals of the intentions of adoptive parents could be troubling for some
young viewers who have been, or who may become, adopted.

Weak Points

Bruce makes Dick an accessory to a crime.

Recommendations

The Lego Batman Movie is funny from the first scene. It’s
well-made, engaging, and means well. There are some challenging portrayals of
orphans and adoption that could be difficult for some adoptive families – and in
particular, which could be confusing or troubling for some younger adopted
children – that’s too bad, because outside of these things, this is a
delightful film that I thoroughly enjoyed. It has some very positive messages
about dealing with loss, and it also portrays the impact of Bruce’s initial
negative approach to dealing with loss. However, his treatment of Dick could
upset some young viewers. For kids who take cinematic mentions of adoption to
heart – particularly younger kids, parents should probably screen it first. Kids
and teens 12 and up may be less likely to take these issues to heart; but
parents should be present during the film so that they can engage their teens in
important conversations afterwards. Overall, for adoptive families, I’d rate
this film as good for kids 12 and up; parental guidance particularly important
for kids 10-13, and for kids under 9 it might be particularly good for parents
to screen it before their kids see it.

Questions for
Discussion

Why was Bruce scared of relationships? What was he scared
of? How did this fear impact him?

What was Dick hoping would come from being adopted? Was it
realistic?

Bruce adopted Dick without realizing he was doing it – how
do you think adoptions happen in the real world?

In what ways was Batman a good dad? What things did he have
wrong, at first?

What makes a good dad, a good dad?

Dick seemed to feel that he had to change something about
himself in order for him to be able to get adopted – how do you feel about
that? If you were Dick’s friend, what would you tell him? Do all

kids deserve a
forever home?

How has Bruce dealt with the “pain you feel when you lose
someone close to you?” Which were the best things he did?